Full list of my cities of residence (in chronological order): Washington, DC & Wheaton, MD - 3.5 years Boulder, CO - 20.5 years Denver, CO - 0.5 years Boulder, CO - 4.0 years Vienna, VA - 0.25 years Washington, DC - 1.0 years Vienna, VA - 0.25 years Washington, DC - 1.0 years Silver Spring, MD - 1.5 years Lanham, MD (current) - 2.5 years |
What makes a better ice-breaker than a false alarm? |
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If you are ever going north on Rt. 1 from DC and hit Baltimore, choose to go left. Rt. 1 abruptly disappeared after an unmarked roundabout. I ended up driving around lost in the ghetto of West Baltimore. I didn't know I was in West Baltimore at the time; I didn't know where I was. I don't know Baltimore, I don't know any landmarks to look for as guides...all I know was that I was seeing street names I recognized from "Homicide," and the streets were lined with hungry-looking people. My only consolation was that I was there at 2:00 in the afternoon and not at night. I picked a road that travelled north/south, headed north, and told myself it didn't matter where I ended up as long as I got out of the city. Then, a miracle: a sign for 695 East rose up out of the landscape, and I felt like a sailor seeing a gull after months at sea. Relief at last. My detour cost me 2 hours. Don't get lost in Baltimore. |
Anyway, twice we have changed highways without remembering having taken an exit (and an exit would have been required in both these cases). . Once we were going though Salt Lake City in the dead of the night when they were rebuilding all their overpasses simultaniously in preparation for the Olympics. They did the big messy work at night and directed all Interstate traffic though town. Well, they directed it into town, anyway. We followed detour signs well into town, and then they petered out. We were somewhere in the bowels of Salt Lake City, and we didn't know how to get out. As we wandered, we saw more and more semi trucks doing the same. We happened to have a CB with us, but by the time we thought of using it to ask for directions, most channels were choked with irate truck drivers invoking all manner of curses on the City of Salt Lake. . It was like a Roach Motel. We checked in, but we couldn't check out. . Though we did, eventually, find our way out. |
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Next time you need to travel through Baltimore pick up one of the ADC map books. Or, let me know ahead of time and I could E-Mail you my phone number. I don't go down town much so I almost always get lost. But, I make sure that a copy of that book is always in the car. |
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I didn't get turned around until I hit a rest stop. I think it was in Bladensburg. |